US must never be ‘a killing field’ – Biden

Toxic rhetoric and political tensions can lead to bloodshed, US President Joe Biden warned in his address from the Oval Office on Sunday, urging Americans to refrain from violence. The appeal came a day after Biden’s reelection rival, former President Donald Trump, narrowly escaped death when a gunman opened fire at one of his campaign rallies.

In a conciliatory speech, Biden urged Americans to “get out of silos” where people only hear views with which they agree. He stressed that “disagreement is inevitable” in a democratic country, and urged everyone to “lower the temperature in our politics.”

“There is no place in America for this kind of violence. Any violence. Period. No exceptions. We cannot allow this violence to be normalized,” Biden said. While once again condemning the attempt on Trump’s life, he also listed several recent incidents, including the 2021 storming of the US Capitol building by Trump supporters, the 2020 plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and the 2022 assault on the husband of former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“Politics must never be a little battlefield and, God forbid, a killing field,” the president said. He added that the differences must be resolved peacefully, through debate and elections, “not with bullets.”

“The power to change America should always rest in the hands of the people, not in the hands of a would-be assassin,” he stated.

On Saturday, a gunman later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks opened several shots at Trump when he was giving a speech at an open-air stage in Butler, Pennsylvania. A bullet grazed the former president’s right ear, but he was otherwise unharmed. One spectator was killed, and two more were wounded. Crooks was killed by Secret Service agents.

Although the attack was widely condemned by both Republicans and Democrats, Trump supporters have argued that the Democrats and the media were guilty of inciting hatred against Trump.

Many politicians and journalists agree that the assassination attempt was a testament to the gradually rising tensions on the American political scene that were further escalated during the highly contentious and high-stakes election.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson urged the country to “get back to civility.” Speaking to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, he said that the US needs “a unified message,” given the “heated environment and [heightened] political division in this country.”

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